Jack Wilshere Vs Tom Cleverley

Many football fans have recently been making the comparison between Jack Wilshere and Tom Cleverley due to them both being young, up and coming central midfielders. Both look extremely promising and possess huge potential but we're going to take a look at who comes out on top when they're compared. 

Is Rio Ferdinand's Absence From The National Team Deserved?

Rio Ferdinand has not played for his country since June 2011 but even at the age of 34 many are still calling for his recall. Roy Hodgson has repeatedly played down the situation and claimed that the snubs have been down to 'footballing reasons'. As the once England captain has regained his place as one of the first names on the Manchester United, we ponder the question - Does he deserve to be left out the National team?


Recently Ferdinand stated that he would love a return to the England team, claiming that he loves playing for them. His most recent snub was the squad to face Brazil in a friendly at Wembley and it doesn't look like he'll be returning any time soon as Hodgson stated his irritation at the constant barrage of questions surrounding the United defender. Hodgson said

 "I am not prepared, every time we play, to keep revisiting something which I have revisited at every single press conference for the last 10 months."

The Story of the Transfer Window - Part 2

So the January transfer window of 2013 has come to an end and £127.8m has been spent. It wasn't so frantic, however, plenty happened over the course of the month and the final part will take a look at all that went on, including the infamous 'Deadline Day'.

There was a slight lull in events during mid-January as the window calmed down a bit. This was before Newcastle decided to raid France in order to turn around their season. They had been chasing Frenchman Loic Remy of Marseille and he looked destined for St. James', however QPR swooped and offered mega-bucks, luring him to West London. This seemed to spark some rage as they went on the offensive, signing a further 4 French players, on top of Debuchy in a foreign raid. First up was Montpellier's central defender, Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa for a fee believed to be around £6.7m. The big man was to be just the first player to cross the channel for football in the upcoming days. In between all this was the move of Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder. The midfield maestro had fallen out with Inter Milan months ago and hadn't really featured this season, leading to him wanting a move away from the club. The club he chose was Turkish giants, Galatasaray and they managed to pick him up for an incredible £8.4m! This was an absolute coup in my opinion for a world class player who was one of the only players who performed for the Netherland at EURO 2012. Many football fans were disappointed that he chose to go to Turkey as they wanted a chance to see him in the Premier League. For some time it had seemed like that might just happen after he was linked with Liverpool, however it just wasn't to be.

The Story of the Transfer Window - Part 1

So the January transfer window of 2013 has come to an end and £127.8m has been spent. It wasn't so frantic, however, plenty happened over the course of the month and part 1 of 2 will dissect all the events that went on in the early stages.

The window got off to a flyer with a big money £12m deal taking place on just the second day of January. The deal involved Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge moving to the North and Liverpool FC. It had been a deal talked about for a while as it had been publicly known that Sturridge was unhappy at Chelsea and Liverpool were desperate for a forward to support Suarez. Sturridge managed to get off to a flyer too, scoring on his league and cup debut. He's now bagged 3 in his first 5 games, now that's what you call hitting the ground running!

Transfers XI

Now that the January transfer window has reached it's climax, I thought I'd put together a team of players who have switched clubs in the window. Here's what I came up with! 

Obviously it was extremely difficult to narrow down the choices as there were so many options, especially in attack with just 2 free slots! 

Why Britain Needs More Footballers Like Alan Hutton

Alan Hutton recently signed for Spanish side RCD Mallorca so guest blogger 'The Game On Paper' decided to evaluate - Why Britain Needs More Footballers Like Alan Hutton.

Lineker, Beckham, Owen, Woodgate, Carson, Mancienne - and now Alan Hutton can join that list. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s a list of British players who have played abroad. Of course there are more than that, in fact at this moment in time there are 302 English players who are playing for foreign clubs (note that this includes people playing for Swansea and Cardiff as well due to them technically being Welsh). Out of those 302 English players, 130 of them play in the Welsh Premier League, the SPL, or the Scottish 1^st Division. Of the remaining pack, there is one player in the Bundesliga (Michael Mancienne), one in Ligue 1 (Joey Barton) and well, as for players in the major foreign leagues, that’s as far as it goes. Two players playing in a standard considered high enough to be in the running for the national team. 2.